ADB to support Pakistan in development process: Dar

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday said the Asian Development Bank (ADB), acknowledging the economic turnaround in Pakistan under the incumbent government, has assured to extend complete support in development projects in the country.

Talking to reporters, the finance minister said that upon his participation in ADB’s 48th Annual Board of Governors Meeting at Baku, the ADB president and other officials reaffirmed continued support for development projects in Pakistan.

Dar said his meetings with the Azeri foreign minister, finance minister and parliamentarians were very fruitful as there was agreement on a broad range of activities to enhance cooperation, particularly in the realm of bilateral trade.

Senator Dar said taking part in the ADB Governors Plenary titled “Opportunities and Challenges for Livable Asian Cities”, proved very interesting as participants put forth useful proposals that he would share with senior officials engaged with urban development and town planning back home.

The main thrust of the participants was upon good governance and management at local government level and application of modern technology for services provision.

The finance minister specially referred to his meeting with his Nepalese counterpart who he said expressed heartfelt gratitude over Pakistan’s exemplary support for relief activities in the quake-hit Nepal.

When asked to comment on the Standard and Poor’s latest report on Pakistan, Dar said Standard and Poor’s was among the world’s big three credit-rating agencies and their new rating for Pakistan was indeed acknowledgement of the fact that Pakistan had made significant progress in stabilizing its economy.

Dar said S&P had noted that strong capital inflows and remittances and lower oil prices, which support business confidence and investment spending, had strengthened the Pakistani economy, adding that S&P had actually acknowledged that Pakistan’s fiscal performance exceeded their expectations for 2014.

“It further noted that Pakistan’s banking system remained sound, reflecting its high profitability and strong capitalisation,” he added. Ishaq Dar said he had asked all departments concerned and officials of the Ministry of Finance to complete their preparations for the budget 2015-16 and also actively coordinate with other ministries in this regard.